A Busy Person
Suzanne Sheridan is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, professional portrait photographer, tribute artist, jingle singer, community organizer, and long-time resident of Westport, Connecticut. That’s a lot. Some musicians build one road and stay on it. Not this one.
From Jingles to Folk Rooms
Sheridan’s first jingle as a singer was “Join the Pepsi People” for Pepsi Cola, which won a Clio Award. She also sang jingles for companies including Hasbro Toys, Hardee’s, and Texaco. In New York City, she played at folk and cabaret venues including Gerde’s Folk City, The Bitter End, and Reno Sweeney. She also wrote music for the PBS children’s show The Electric Company.
Those are impressive credits, but what makes Sheridan especially interesting for Songwriter Safari is not only where her music has appeared, but the range of original work she has created along the way.
Original Songs (and Feature Song)
Sheridan published 20 of her original songs in the compilation album Standing Ovation. Her writing moves through humor, faith, social conscience, and everyday observation.
One of her best-known originals is our FEATURE SONG: “90 Pound Suburban Housewife Driving in Her SUV”, co-written with Rozanne Gates. This comic country song drew wide attention, including a television report by CNN’s Jeanne Moos. It is a funny, pointed, and memorable song that proves humor can be a surprisingly sharp songwriting tool.
A Serious Side
Sheridan has also written in a more serious and spiritual vein. With songwriter Lee Kweller, she wrote “The Power’s In You”, which received an Honorable Mention in the gospel category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. She also wrote for and performed with Exit 43, described as a Unitarian-gospel, three-part-harmony, guitar-driven group. Their CD, Home at Last, reflects another side of her musical life: communal, harmony-based, and rooted in something deeper than entertainment.
Not Just Tribute Work
It would be easy to describe Sheridan mainly through the famous songwriters she has honored in performance, including Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Gordon Lightfoot, and others. Her tribute concerts have taken her through the Northeast, Canada, and Australia, and her live recording Suzanne Sheridan Sings the Music of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen documents that part of her work.
But the tribute work should not obscure the songwriter underneath it. If anything, it helps explain her. Sheridan has clearly spent years listening deeply to writers who care about language, melody, conscience, and emotional honesty. Her own work reflects that, while adding her own humor, warmth, and theatrical flair.
A Builder of Musical Spaces
Sheridan is also a builder of musical spaces. Her First Folk Sunday series in Westport has become a regular gathering place for live music, guest artists, shared songs, and folk community.
It is easy to overlook how much music survives because someone does the practical work: booking the room, gathering the players, welcoming the audience, and keeping the songs moving from one person to another.
Suzanne Sheridan may be known to many listeners as an interpreter of iconic writers, but she belongs on the Songwriter Safari map for another reason. She has spent decades doing the real work of a songwriter: observing, responding, connecting, laughing, caring, and turning a life in music into songs people can relate to.
Links
Website
YouTube
Apple Music
Facebook
First Folk Sunday
Spotify
FEATURE SONG (90 Pound Suburban Housewife)
More Listening
The White Dove of Peace
Anthem
🎶 Spotlight No. 62
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Disclaimer
All biographical details and quotes in this post come directly from the artist and/or the artist’s public online presence. The thoughts and opinions shared are the artist’s own. I use AI tools to help organize information and smooth out the writing, but every spotlight is personally curated, shaped, and approved by me. Songwriter Safari isn’t responsible for the accuracy of submitted details or the availability of external links.
The line about humor being a surprisingly sharp songwriting tool is the one I'd underline. A comic song like “90 Pound Suburban Housewife” tends to get filed as a novelty, but the funny ones are often the ones smuggling the sharpest observation past your guard—the laugh is the delivery system. It's a harder thing to write than a straight-faced song, and it ages better when it's done right. The range here is striking too: jingles to gospel to comic country is a lot of rooms to be at home in. Nice spotlight.
Excellent post. So often bios focus on one side of the person. This captures several facets of Suzanne Sheridan to show her as a sparkling gem!